Cities in the storm's path faced removal of "tons upon tons of snow, the largest amount to fall in two-and-a-half centuries of habitation," according to the comprehensive 1987 book Blizzard! Almost everything not extremely secure cluttered the streets such as signs, gas lamps. I ever experienced" had buried New York City. north, and the temperature fell 3° within an hour. . Weather stations dotted the country, and prevailing conditions were telegraphed to downstream locations. . Kathy Morisse is a retired international economist, and a Steinway Diary researcher who has written background information that expands on diary entries, with a focus on trips and modes of travel. The city had already ordered that wires be buried following public outcry after several deadly accidents occurred during line repairs. The scientific community was urged to improve the prediction of such weather to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future. var InstallationUrl = '/~com/'; marked 29.88°, and the tumbling continued until midnight, when it reached 29.06°, a fall of nearly an inch in 18 hours. Parts of Brooklyn were damaged due to flooding, as the low-lying areas were susceptible to overflow from the vast amounts of melting snow, which was dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. that the roof of our (piano) key making factory was nearly blown off. For three days the low-pressure system meandered around the south coast of New England in a counterclockwise motion. The ferocious storm caught major cities by surprise in mid-March, paralyzing transportation, disrupting communication, and isolating millions of people. Passenger cars had wood stoves to keep customers from freezing to death, but as wood ran out, card tables and seats were chopped up for use as fuel. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com, Worst Storms of All Time - The Ground Blizzard of 1977, The Causes And Effects Of Melting Glaciers, Countries Doing The Most To Combat Climate Change. The storm paralyzed New York City and triggered a number of significant infrastructure changes in its wake. Severe weather conditions in the near future was compared to the blizzard as people narrated survival stories to their children and grandchildren. Food and fuel was scarce. . People in the entire New England region could not leave their houses and those who did ended up dead in the snow or suffered severe frostbite. Why The Bermuda Triangle Vanishing Of The USS Cyclops Remains Chilling 100 Years Later, Archaeologists Discover "Massive" Skeletons of Viking Descendants In Sicily, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, first underground train system opened in Boston. . Constitution Avenue, NW People wandered the streets searching for shops that may still have coal so they could heat their The museum is open Fridays through Tuesdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. By Larry Margasak, with research by Larry Margasak and Kathy Morisse, March 9, 2016. Property damage was estimated to be at least 25 million dollars. The city woke up to the sig… Caplovich's book tells the story of William Scribner, of Cannonade, Connecticut, a wire weaver. Nicknamed the Great White Hurricane, the Blizzard of 1888 was one of the most severe recorded storms in U.S. history. Telegraph lines collapsed due to the weight of ice. Trains loaded with passengers were stranded on the tracks. New York City followed suit and opened its own subway in 1904. The fear of famine and isolation loomed over the masses as household exhausted the supply of basic foodstuffs such as milk and bread. Rail lines coated in ice became too slippery, causing commuter trains to derail and collide across New York City. Wind speeds of up to 50 miles per hour made the situation even worse. Before the day had ended, he wrote in his diary, his carriage had become stuck three times and he had waded through knee-deep snow near his Gramercy Park home, having "a terrible time getting to my house at 6 p.m." Returning from a canceled theater performance, his wife and two adult children came home covered in snow. This storm wreaked havoc from Maine to New Jersey, with some areas receiving snow drifts as high as 50 inches. Additional Photos of the Blizzard of 1978 Some residual snow from the high snowbanks could still be seen when summer came around. Barnum attended the first show. In Boston, the Daily Globe's March 13 headline was: "Cut Off.". On the first day of the blizzard, he walked a mile from his house, staggered to his company's main gate, and heard the whistle signaling the start of the shift. This weather event quickly became known as The Blizzard of 1888 or The Great White Hurricane. The modern system took several years to complete, however. Supplies had to be transported by sled, and in those conditions, many sleds became stuck. Larry Margasak is a retired Washington journalist and a museum volunteer with the Steinway Diary Project. "In the very teeth of the gale the matinee was given, and last evening the second performance occurred according to programme," the Times reported on March 13. By the time the storm was over, on March 14th, more than 200 ships had been wrecked or grounded along the coast and at least 100 seamen had died. horses starving for want of food, send George (his son) out to buy Oats, learn . What does LaGuardia Airport have in common with piano manufacturer William Steinway's long lost amusement park? Finally, there was the promise kept by the Barnum & Bailey circus to go ahead with its two performances at Madison Square Garden. I ever experienced" had buried New York City. The area of low pressure moved toward the southeast coast of New England but instead of moving out to sea, as most storms do, this one stalled. The worst blizzard in English-American history to hit the eastern United States occurred on March 12 and 13, 1888. homes. The National Weather Service estimated the storm dumped over 50 inches of snow in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts and New York, while parts of New Jersey received 40 inches. Here is a recap of the storm from the National Weather Service in Albany, New York. There is some debate to this day whether the Great Blizzard of 1888 was the greatest U.S. blizzard of all time. The storm began as heavy rainfall in New York City on the afternoon of March 11 but it was not until midnight when the temperatures significantly dropped and the rainfall turned into heavy snow. Transportation of needed food supplies was impacted for several days after the storm. This took more than a week to clear, and in the meantime no rail transport was available anywhere in the city. "Despite the storm, management considered Scribner to be just another late employee and docked him a day's pay.". Most of northern Vermont received from 20 to30 inches. The temperatures in March were extremely low, plummeting to below the freezing point in New York City. The only Between 12th and 14th Streets receiving snow drifts as high as 50 inches. Snow drifts were reported over the tops of houses from New York to New England, with reports of drifts covering three-story houses. 80 mph per hour wind gusts were reported, although the highest official report in New York City was 40 mph. Affecting coastal states from Virginia to Maine, this paralyzing storm resulted in widespread death and destruction. Even though this storm was confined to a smaller area, the Blizzard of 1888 set the standard for the most severe blizzard on record for the U.S. in my opinion. The highest reported snowfall was 58 inches, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Likewise, the Easter storm of 1873 was talked about Doctors were unable to make house calls, and it took many days to clear the snow off of country roads to make them passable. var pageCommentID = 'blizzard-of-1888'. Tens of thousands of passengers were caught between railway stations and overcrowded rail cars. Reports released by the Navy noted that about 90 ships sank in the seas while several more were badly damaged. Telephone and telegraph wires were down from Washington, D.C., to Maine, and the trains, which provided the only public transportation in those days, were at a standstill, many smashed and ruined or stuck in drifts, some never able to leave the station.
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